AGA Out of Character: Drive-Thru RPG & The Red Room

 Hi everyone, 

It's ya boy, Raven. I hope you've been enjoying the few posts I was able to put up. The reason that it's so sporadic is that I'm using this as battle reports in story form for my solo games. I take the photos of the game progression and have to look into my notes for what it is I'm building the story around and I haven't had the time to sit down and actually play another solo game so there haven't been more story developments as of late. 

I write to you today to give you talk to you out of character, out of the story. This is where real-life has kind of been inserted. 

For those of you shopping on Drive-Thru RPG, I want you to take a moment to read this because it's necessary. Last year, Drive-Thru RPG Dot Com began to clamp down on more "edgy" content. Nevermind that, for creators, there is a means of putting that type of content behind a 17+ or Mature label. That means, if you're not older than 17, you don't get to browse that material. You also don't get to purchase it. To me, that's reasonable. The same also exists on Lulu Dot Com which means you won't be able to buy it in print or PDF. 

The new rules were largely unreasonable. The rules state, and I quote the following: 

"Hostile Marketing: Our policy regarding potentially offensive content (see Product Standards Guidelines) reported by customers is to deactivate such titles while they are being reviewed. Publishers who deliberately court controversy by making public declarations or accusations of censorship resulting from this process in order to draw attention to their products will be considered to use hostile marketing. 

Publishers who direct or support public accusations of impropriety or censorship toward OneBookShelf when their controversial titles are rejected or removed from our marketplace will also be considered to use hostile marketing. 

This behavior will not be tolerated. We have adopted a strict one-warning policy for those who engage in hostile marketing: The first incident will prompt a warning, and after a second incident, their accounts will be removed from our site permanently and immediately.."

Publishers who direct or support public accusations of impropriety or censorship toward OneBookShelf when their controversial titles are rejected or removed from our marketplace will also be considered to use hostile marketing.

This behavior will not be tolerated. We have adopted a strict one-warning policy for those who engage in hostile marketing: The first incident will prompt a warning, and after a second incident, their accounts will be removed from our site permanently and immediately."

 Recently, the publisher The Red Room ran afoul of this particular rule. To explain what happened, the first run-in with this rule was that their scenario for the game Wretchploitation entitled Sexual Holocaust (an investigatory Hellraiser-esque horror scenario) was pulled down within a short time of being released. It was put up again, but the damage had been done. Sales were lost and the chilling effect of the Hostile Marketing Clause had not been put into effect yet. Miguel Ribeiro and Silvia Clemente were left in the dark until their findings were presented to them, one way or the other. The pair recently published an over-the-top, satirical RPG entitled "Men" which had been designed to take exaggerations of the current tropes of what is considered toxic masculinity, turn them up to 11 and put it into cartoonishly ridiculous form and present it as an RPG. They publicly predicted that it would be taken down and even backed it up to BigGeekEmporium.com as well as their own site. 

DTRPG not only took it down but then began to berate them in the emails, calling Miguel "abusive" and then severing ties with them altogether. Contrary to policy, not a single warning was ever issued. 

DTRPG were within their rights as a private company, they can do whatever they want and that's fine. According to policy, in order to submit such a title for review, someone had to have a confirmed purchase of it, however, there's no transparency here. The other effect that's been pointed out is that there's no recourse even if DTRPG violated it's own policy. Rules for thee, not for me. 

There will most likely be mental gymnastics done by staff at DTRPG that the posting of this policy was the warning but that is not how it was written. While there were YouTubers who covered the issue claiming that Miguel and Silvia knew what they were doing and so no sympathy was appropriate, I, for one, disagree in the most vocal sense. Again, the policy is clear in that there would be one warning and then dismissal but that was not the case and, the very abuse of the policy in place that was predicted has been proven to be correct. This post here on this blog is in no way likely to do anything to persuade DTRPG to correct course. As for me, they've lost a customer entirely to Big Geek Emporium and Lulu altogether. I'm also not a creator and, thus, not bound by their dictate on the matter. 

Other predictions made by content creators were that the first two weeks are when sales are at their most crucial to newly-released content. The takedown would negatively impact those sales. This has also proven true for many who've found themselves on the business end of the abuse. Also, you as a creator are being told to shut up. Say nothing. You have no right to say a word. 

Nevermind that DTRPG holds a near monopoly. 

Nevermind that DTRPG holds partnerships with Kickstarter (PDF and POD Fulfillment,) and Roll20 (the very reason for the rule changes including the "Hostile Marketing" clause) which has had a reported history of it's own around their own racism. Also, if you notice the receipts that you get for your purchases through DTRPG now do not read OneBookShelf being the parent company but Roll20 Inc. Telling. 

Since the abusive expulsion from DTRPG, Miguel and Silvia have lost more than two thirds of their sales because either their fan base on DTRPG doesn't know where they are or simply won't go anywhere else. 

While I agree that private companies have the right to do whatever they want, it's time for DTRPG to choose. Are they a market? Then that market should be open to all and host all. If I, as a customer, do not like a certain company's behavior or content, I simply will not purchase it. I close my wallet to them and deny them any type of funds. If something is behind a "Mature" label, then what that means is I should be mature in my approach. If it offends me, I should have options to ask for a refund or simply not purchase any further material from the publisher. Sane, rational, mature adults conduct themselves in that manner. Are they a publisher? Then you fall under regulation. If you want editorial rights, you're a publisher, not an online game store. What is the point of having a Mature Content label if it means essentially nothing? 

I also do not in any way appreciate others' offense deciding what I will and will not read. Big Geek Emporium, in comparison, does not have this problem. Creators there will be receiving my money. While I encourage and call on all creators to mirror their publications onto Big Geek Emporium, I also encourage customers, who purchase tabletop role-playing games like myself, to also purchase direct. 

Bringing it all back to The Red Room and the creators who've written for it, I'm here to share some news. First, you can still purchase the material from The Red Room directly from their website. If you're looking at the dearth of PDFs that you're currently behind on, the good news is that you can procure the entire library for only $20 per month thanks to their Subscription Plans. $20 per month is their top tier which gets you the entire library plus access to beta versions of new core rule sets, adventure scenarios and games. Have a look, there are even options for a one-time donation. Alternately, you can also purchase the PDFs individually as needed. Also, you can still find them on Lulu Dot Com, with all the print on demand versions available in softcover or hardcover. Thanks to Postmortem Studios, you can also find The Red Room's Material there as well as Big Geek Emporium. 

Those of us who claim that we support small publishers, it's time to act on that. I encourage you all to visit The Red Room's Website or Postmortem Studios and buy there or on other stores that have them. I also encourage you to boycott DriveThruRPG and Roll20 until such time as they have reversed course on this issue. In comparison, Foundry, as a Virtual TableTop is best because it's a one-time fee and then you can play whatever you like on it. 

I know what I'm asking and I'm not demanding you do it. I'm well aware of how difficult that this type of course can be, however, I am also not asking you to do anything I have not done. Grim Jim even reached out to DTRPG with his own concerns and was told, in so many words to keep his mouth shut on the issue. If DTRPG will treat creators in such a cold and callous manner, then they have decided that others will decide for you what you'll play, how you'll play it, when you'll play it or if you will play it at all. As you can see, the damage they have done is unacceptable. If you can't boycott DTRPG or Roll20, then at the very least, I ask you to purchase directly from The Red Room, join their mailing list, follow them across social media, host one of their games on Roll20, put some visibility on their games, even if you only like something like Wretchploitation over something like Wretched Bastards and post your play reports, actual plays, etc. Do whatever you can to show your support and put it in front of DTRPG that they've done damage they can't repair and that we will not remain silent about it any longer. 

If this policy which has been proven to be prone to abuse, can be abused on one publisher, it can be abused and directed at you as well, and it will. 

Thank you all for reading and considering. 

Sincerely,

Raven Wulfgar. 

P.S.: I went back to have a look at this article to find out that the formatting had been all kinds of out of whack. I had to go back and completely redo the article so, hopefully, it helps. Also, I wanted to follow up by addressing a certain issue. 

During Wizards of The Coast's marketing (miserable at that) of Dragonlance: Shadow of The Dragon Queen, I as well as others were being subject to demands of "STOP GIVING YOUR MONEY TO PEOPLE THAT HATE YOU!!!" over and over again. I made it clear that I am the only one that makes my purchasing decisions, no one else. Well, since taking that advice, the very people that demanded I stop giving my money to companies that hate me have now changed their tune...because it affects their bottom line apparently. One of them was someone whose games I have purchased in the past. Again, I reminded them that there will never be anyone making financial decisions for me. Only me. Only. They've since blocked me for pointing out the violation by Drive-Thru RPG of their "strict" policy and so have others. That creator will never have to worry about me being a customer with them ever again. 

As I've said, if you can't do that, for whatever reason, I understand. I get it, it's fine. Do what makes the most sense for you. No judgments, no calling you out, nothing. Everything written here, I stand by it and always will. Thanks for hanging with me through this article and I apologize for the formatting issues that popped up.